Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of Livingston and Wyoming counties, New York .. . on to human slavery. For many yearshe was an intimate friend of William William P. Letchworth entered early upona mercantile career, holding a confidential po-sition in one of the largest importing housesin the country. Declining an offer of part-nership, in 1848 he went to Buffalo, wherehe formed a connection with Samuel I, andPascal P. Pratt, under the firm name of Pratt &Letchworth, taking the position of managingpartner in a wholesale business of importingand manufact
Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of Livingston and Wyoming counties, New York .. . on to human slavery. For many yearshe was an intimate friend of William William P. Letchworth entered early upona mercantile career, holding a confidential po-sition in one of the largest importing housesin the country. Declining an offer of part-nership, in 1848 he went to Buffalo, wherehe formed a connection with Samuel I, andPascal P. Pratt, under the firm name of Pratt &Letchworth, taking the position of managingpartner in a wholesale business of importingand manufacturing saddlery hardware. Aboutthis time was established in Buffalo the work-house now known as the Erie County Peniten-tiary, to which large numbers of both sexeswere sentenced for short terms. Mr. Letch-worths attention being called to the demoral-ization resulting from enforced idleness inclose confinement, he conceived the plan,which proved practicable, of employing theprisoners in making goods which were thengenerally imported, rendering their servicesavailable for short periods of time, by so sub- %. WILLIAM P. LETCHWORTH. BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 397 dividing the work and multiplying processesthat each person would be required to dealwith a part of an article instead of the to this time convict labor had been util-ized only in State prisons, where the lengthof sentence gave each prisoner opportunity tolearn a trade. In the business of Pratt &Letchworth a pressing necessity being felt forthe manufacture by themselves of malleablecast iron, Mr. Letchworth bent his energiesin this direction, and with such good effectthat a process was developed for the produc-tion of iron of a superior quality. The resultwas the establishment of the Buffalo Malle-able Iron Works, which in a few years be-came one of the largest works of its kind inthe country. Mr. Letchworths business enterprises grewto large proportions, and were crowned withgratifying success; but all this meant ardu
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidbiographical, bookyear1895
